Cormark Forecasts Increased Earnings for Sun Life Financial

Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) – Analysts at Cormark increased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Sun Life Financial in a report issued on Tuesday, February 4th. Cormark analyst L. Persaud now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $6.78 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $6.76. The consensus estimate for Sun Life Financial’s current full-year earnings is $6.92 per share. Cormark also issued estimates for Sun Life Financial’s FY2025 earnings at $7.57 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.21 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on SLF. National Bankshares upgraded Sun Life Financial from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$82.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$90.00 to C$94.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sun Life Financial from C$82.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Sun Life Financial from C$85.00 to C$96.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Sun Life Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$86.73.

Sun Life Financial Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SLF opened at C$82.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$47.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.94. Sun Life Financial has a 1 year low of C$64.38 and a 1 year high of C$88.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 53.77, a quick ratio of 84,866.00 and a current ratio of 65.29. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$85.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$78.80.

Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) (NYSE:SLF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported C$1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$1.71 by C$0.05. Sun Life Financial had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 9.90%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share.

Sun Life Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.84 dividend. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. This is a boost from Sun Life Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Sun Life Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.36%.

Insider Transactions at Sun Life Financial

In other news, Director Kevin Strain sold 85,943 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$84.71, for a total value of C$7,280,231.53. Also, Senior Officer Linda Dougherty bought 5,800 shares of Sun Life Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$84.83 per share, for a total transaction of C$492,014.00. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Sun Life Financial Company Profile

Sun Life Financial is one of Canada’s Big Three life insurance companies along with Great-West Lifeco and Manulife. Sun Life provides insurance, retirement, and wealth-management services to individual and corporate customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. It also owns MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based asset-management firm.